A conventional polymer light-emitting electrochemical cell (PLEC) is composed of a mixture of a luminescent polymer and a polymer salt complex. The mixture is positioned between two electrodes, at least one of which is transparent (e.g., indium tin oxide, ITO). The application of a voltage bias to the electrodes causes polarization of ions against the electrodes. Induced electric fields at the electrode interfaces drives charge injection. Recombination of electrons and holes in the luminescent polymer generates light. Current PLEC devices, however, suffer from various limitations including energy inefficiency and instability of the materials due to degradative over-oxidation or over-reduction of the active polymer. In particular, the most common PLECs are based on conjugated polymers blended with a polymer-salt complex. These materials are not suitable because they contain free salt. Consequently, ambipolar diffusion of neutral anion-cation pairs will destroy any differential in ion content between contacted materials.